Among the Moon and Stars
by RinnyTan
Summary: Alternate Universe. Accounts the story of Persona 3 from a different perspective: a new character that was part of Akihiko and Shinjiro's orphanage. What role shall she play in SEES's pursuit of eliminating the Dark Hour?


Author's purpose: This fanfic has been developing in my mind ever since I played P3P, which has been on and off for a few years. I still haven't finished the game yet (those vision quests doe), but I already know how the game ends, just haven't experienced it for myself, lol. I've been crazed about Shin Megami Tensei since being introduced to the series through the anime adaption of P4. I chose to write this fanfic for the P3 storyline though because I thoroughly enjoyed the game's storytelling.

Credits to Nardack (from pixiv) for the cover image. I wanted to have a visual for the new character to help readers imagine her, so I'll be basing descriptions of her off this illustration. It's really a wonderful picture C:

Anyways, this is the first story I'm writing on this account (I used to have another story on a different account but I forgot the login *laughs nervously* it was 5 years ago, shh). Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading my twist of the Persona 3 universe~

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><p>I Wish…<p>

_Akihiko_

Shrill cries. A girl. The echoing sound of children coughing. A dark cloud seethes from the building, replaced quickly by the source of the smoke: a raging fire enveloping the orphanage. His home.

The boy besides Akihiko dashes forward and into the burning building, leaving a trail of dusty sand in the air. Inside, fragments of his desperate voice could be heard "… I… where… Miki!"

There is a panic. The older children try their best to console the younger ones, who have all resorted to crying in the middle of all the commotion. They look up from the sobbing children and towards the flames, their eyes dashed with a painful sorrow.

Adults are either huddling the children away from the wafting smoke or throwing small buckets of water at the unwavering inferno. One tottering and weeping child stops an adult and points towards the fire. She kneels and listens to the child. Quickly, she gets up and stops the nearest male adult, informs him of the situation, and sets him running off into the crumbling building.

The structure was slowly toppling over. Despite the enormous amount of heat being emitted from the flames, the woman was on the floor trembling, holding the child close as he cried and cried.

Finally, in the midst of the sound of the burning aged wood, there came the sound of faint coughing. The man reappears from the building, and in each arm is a child, the boy who had run in foolishly without thinking and a girl who had been trapped in the flames. The sides of his yellow apron had been seared by fire. Some parts were still ignited, leaving dark smoky patches. He falls to his knees a safe distance from the building, still coughing and gasping for air. Two women and a man rush over and pick them up from the ground.

The girl's white dress had become an unrecognizable gray, having been covered in soot. Embers had burned craters through the soft fabric. She is motionless in the woman's arms. The other woman struggles to keep the boy still, who is kicking and screaming in-between coughs, crying out "Mi… ki… no…!"

The building caves in.

_..._

Akihiko awakens from the familiar scene. He turns his head over to look at the digital clock besides his bed. He still has a few minutes before his alarm clock will ring. As Akihiko reaches his arms over his head to stretch, he realizes his hands are shaking. Frowning, he clenches his rough hands into tight fists, and the trembles dissipate.

However, the lingering thoughts in his mind are more difficult to shake off. The thoughts of guilt and feeling powerless, being stunned and unable to move. No, those thoughts never left him, ever since he lost Miki to that fire.

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><p>And that's the first chapter~ It's more of a teaser of my writing style and my take on how the orphanage fire went down. The new character will be introduced in the next chapter, but that doesn't mean this chapter was for nothing! *laughs evilly*<p> 


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